Secrets and Heros
by Crenna21
Summary: Matt gets a new neighbour who disturbs his nights. However, he suddenly has to depend on neigbourly help and discovers that he is not the only one with secrets.
1. Meet

**_"_** ** _The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed." Carl Jung_**

* * *

A big moving van is standing outside the building when Matt comes home from the office. Fran, the elderly woman who lived across the hall in apartment 6B moved in a nursing home a couple of weeks ago, therefore Matt assumes that he gets a new neighbour today. When he reaches the door of his apartment a woman approaches him.

„Hi, my name is Lena MacKenzie. I'm your new neighbour", she introduces herself, clearly trying to make a good impression.

"Matt Murdock. Nice to meet you, Lena." He assesses the woman with the senses he has. She is tall, athletic, her posture is straight and upright. Her head is clean-shaved. She smells of leather, fresh sweat, coffee and gun oil. No perfume or body lotion, only a faint scent of unflavoured soap.

"Nice to meet you, too, Matt," she replies, "Good that I meet you right away. I talked to the landlord and he said that you have the exclusive right to the roof terrace. I wonder if you mind when I use it as well from time to time." She smiles but Matt feels her tension, the request is important to her, no doubt. However, no way he wants his new neighbour lingering on the roof top when he returns from his nightly activities. "I'm sorry, but as the landlord said, I have exclusive access to the roof. It's part of my lease," he replies firmly. He negotiated that amendment to his rental agreement when he started his second job as vigilante.

"I wouldn't disturb you, I promise," she affirms, trying to keep up the smile, Matt can sense that she is clearly upset.

"No, sorry," he repeats. He turns away brusquely to end the discussion and he does not need his heighten senses to know that she is really pissed at him now. Probably not a good way to start a neighbourship, but Matt cannot take chances.

* * *

Matt is startled awake by a scream. It has its sources definitely in Lena's apartment. He rises, listens and reaches out with his senses. There is nobody else in her apartment. She must have screamed in her sleep. He hears her getting up, going to the kitchen, pouring in a glass of water. The next noise he catches is the dump sound of someone hitting a punching bag. Matt lies down again; the only thing that is threatening his neighbour are her nightmares. No job for Daredevil.

The incident repeats the following nights and Matt concludes that Lena must have some serious issues she is dealing with. Issues that are disturbing Matt's already short nights too. Above all, a couple of nights later when he is coming back from one of his nightly patrols as Daredevil, Lena is standing on the roof terrace. He hides in a shadow on the roof of the adjoining building, waiting until she finally goes back to her apartment. This is exactly what he wanted to prevent when denying her roof access. The next day, he writes her a sharply-worded letter with the header of Nelson & Murdock, Attorneys-at-law, threatening her with all instruments the law provides if she sets another foot on the roof. The result is that she stays away from the roof, but whenever they cross in the hallway, he can say based on her increasing heartrate and jaw-clenching that it really takes her an effort to not just strangle him. There is no chance that his new neighbour will ever help him out with sugar or eggs like Fran used to.


	2. Fall

**_"_** ** _It was almost comforting, this mutual acceptance of our secrets." Kiera Cass, The Elite_**

* * *

Matt is pretty sure he is not going to make it. He tries to ignore the pain. But he cannot ignore that he lost a lot of blood. He almost past out twice before he finally reached the roof of his building. Well, perhaps he will make it back into his apartment before losing his consciousness for good and bleeding to death. Claire is out of town, Foggy has not picked up the phone, he is probably with Marci, and there is nobody else he can call for help. He is feeling dizzy, the world starts to spin. He stumbles, falls. He hears the crack of glass before he hits the floor.

* * *

The pain hits him and keeps him conscious. The first thing he notices is the metallic click of the safety catch of a SIG Sauer. The second thing is his neighbour Lena, standing in safe distance, pointing with said gun at him. He tries to move and groans. He must have broken some rips.

"Don't move!" Lena says in a commanding voice. "Don't move," she repeats, "Because if you move, I have to assume that you want to attack me and then I have to shoot you. And I'm not sure yet whether I really want to."

"You don't," he says, gasping, "However, if you wait long enough, I'll bleed to death anyway."

* * *

Lena was trying to cope with another of these disturbing dreams when her skylight suddenly broke and the red clothed man with the striking horns landed in her living room. The grasp for her weapon was pure automatism. She recognises her visitor by his costume since she saw him in the news. She notices the bleeding wound on his leg and swears. She already sees her place filled with police, sneaking around her apartment, firing questions at her about her relationship with Daredevil, digging in her affairs. That cannot be good for her undertaking. However, letting Daredevil bleed to death in her apartment is no real alternative since getting rid of the body would not be easy too. She sighs in resignation. "I'm calling an ambulance." She has no idea how to explain that to her boss.

"No, no calls. No ambulance, no hospital", Matt mutters.

"Look, I gather that Daredevil prefers to stay in the dark. However, it won't help if you die in my apartment."

Matt feels her reluctance; any other person would not hesitate to call the police when the Devil of Hell's Kitchen fells through their window, Lena on the other hand is apparently not keen on calling the cops. His neighbour has secrets on her own and at the moment, this could be an advantage for Matt. "You could help me. Please," he says.

* * *

She hesitates; this could be a way out. She would patch him up and throw him out of her apartment. No ambulance, no police. Nobody would find out. And if he dies afterwards in the street, he wanted it that way. She is going to regret this, no doubt. She puts her gun in her trousers and grabs a towel from the kitchen. She wipes away some pieces of the broken window with her foot and kneels next to him and ties the towel around his leg, a bit above the bleeding wound, to temporarily ligate it. Then she checks for further wounds. There is a bad cut on his left upper arm, but not life-threatening.

"Can you move your arms and legs? Your head?"

He tries and notices that apart from some ribs, all bones are miraculously intact.

"Okay, can you move to the sofa there?" she asks.

"So you don't shoot me?" He tries to smirk.

"Still thinking." She helps him up and drags him to the couch. Then she runs to the bathroom to get her first aid kit. She examines the wounded leg more closely. It is a shot gun wound. "Hm, seems like you've been lucky. The bullet went clean through. The bone isn't hit."

"Oh yeah, lucky me," Matt moans.

"I can clean the wound and put on a pressure bandage. Either you take off your pants or I have to slice them."

"I'm not that easy."

"Don't worry, you're not my type." She picks up a pair of scissors and tries to cut through the tissue. After some failed attempts she discovers that she can cut the resilient fabricate when cutting along the threadline. She disinfects the wound generously. Her visitor barely flinches; he is definitely used to pain. Then she applies a tight bandage and loosens the towel. "I think that will do for the time being. I guess it's pointless to say that you should see a doctor."

"Where did you learn that?" he asks.

"I used to be a Marine," she says.

That explains not only her first aid abilities but also the nightmares. Matt knows that many soldiers return home traumatised. And it explains why she did not show a sign of panic when he broke through her skylight. She is tense, cautious and he is sure that she would not hesitate to draw her gun again if he makes a sudden movement.

"I'm Lena, by the way," she introduces herself, not expecting that her visitor would give her his real name in return. She rises and goes to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. "You should drink a lot to balance the blood loss." She studies the masked man, lying on her sofa in the half dark of her living room. The tight suit underlines the muscles of his trained body. Despite being injured, he looks strong and dangerous. The red mask is covering most of his face, she tries not to look too closely to the uncovered part, since finding out who Daredevil is would make her even more problems than she already has.

"I'm sorry that I brought you into this, Lena," he says in a coarse voice.

"It's okay; just don't die on my sofa." And please disappear as quickly as possible, she adds in her thoughts. Her boss would kill her if he finds out that she is helping the infamous vigilante of Hell's Kitchen. She looks up to the broken window and sighs. There was someone else who is going to toast her. "I have no idea how I explain that to my neighbour. He's very touchy about his roof terrace. And he's a lawyer. He's going to sue me for damages. You don't happen to have legal cost insurance?" she says.

"No, but I'm good at intimidating people."

She grins, "It's tempting. But it's probably a bit over the top to charge Daredevil with scaring a blind guy. Even if he is a mean little pettifogger."

Matt holds back a smile, "What has he done to you?" He feels a twisted enjoyment talking about himself.

She shakes her head, "He is just a dick. Not important."

* * *

She picks up the first aid kit again and sits beside him to take care of the cut on his arm. "I can stitch that. Do you want some painkillers? I have the good stuff."

He refuses; he has to keep a clear head. "So, I'm not your type?" he asks to get distracted from the pain when she starts stitching the cut. She is not nearly as skilled as Claire, but she has clearly done it before.

She feels his presence, closer than she likes it. She can sense his breath on her neck, when she bends forward to stitch the wound. He may not be her type, but he definitely has the potential to go under her skin. "These horns, come on, what have you been thinking?"

"Someone told me that nothing drives people to the church faster than the thought of the Devil snapping at their heels."

"So this is about religion?"

"No, that's not…It's about fighting evil, doing what has to be done, when nobody else does. Helping people. Haven't you joined the Corps for similar reasons?"

"I come from a family with at least ten generations of proud Navy officers. Joining the Marines was my way of rebelling."

She puts a patch on the arm wound and then bends forward to examine the wound at the leg. The bandage is blood soaked; however, the bleeding stopped. That is the moment when Matt notices the scars under Lena's tank top. Her whole back is covered with long cicatrices. He reaches out, however pulls his hand back before he touches her skin. He is listening every night to her nightmares, he just broke through her window into her living room and now he is bleeding on her sofa. He has already intruded deep enough into her privacy. She instantly knows what he discovered and stiffens. The only thing Matt can figure that would leave such a pattern of scars is flogging. "Do you have some more water?" he asks to let her know that he will just ignore his discovery. She nods and relaxes.

* * *

Her phone rings. She rises and picks it up and Matt focuses to listen to the conversation. A man is on the other side of the line.

" _I guess I don't have to ask about your insomnia when you pick up your phone that quickly_ ," the caller says.

"What's up, Boss?" she asks.

" _We have to talk_."

Lena glances at her watch. It is four o'clock in the morning. "Now?"

" _Yeah, I pick you up in twenty_."

"I'm waiting downstairs," she says and puts her phone down. "Okay, I have to go." She disappears into her sleeping room. He hears her putting on jeans and a shirt. And he hears her checking the magazine of her gun and putting a spare magazine in her pocket and a knife in her boots.

"I can help you if you are in trouble," he says and straightens up when she is returning to the living room.

"You help me most if you're not lying dead on my sofa when I'm coming back." She approaches him and touches his neck to feel his pulse. It is a bit weak but regular. "Do you have a sidekick or a minion who can pick you up?"

"I manage," he says, smiling. He should ask Foggy whether he wants to be his minion. "Thank you, Lena, for saving my life."

She nods distracted and leaves. He waits until she leaves the building. He listens as a car arrives and she drives away with the guy that called her. He makes sure that the hallway is empty before he rises and drags himself to his own apartment, wondering which secrets his neighbour is hiding.


	3. Burst

**"** **The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.** **"** **Ferdinand Foch**

* * *

It turns out that Foggy is not really amused by the minions joke. Foggy is not in the mood for jokes anyway when he arrives at Matt's apartment and discovers his friend's condition. He feels somewhat between being angry with Matt for taking on a bunch of drug dealers alone and having a guilty conscious for switching off his phone while spending the night with Marci. Matt gives him a short version of the nightly encounter with Lena.

"An ex-Marine with a gun and a secret? She is hot, isn't she?" Foggy asks.

"That's not…She is…remarkable," Matt says finally.

"Oh, I'm in trouble. I know it," Foggy moans, "I'm telling Karen that you are down with the flu. And you have to promise me not to put on that suit until your leg is completely healed."

* * *

Lena returns home around noon, she feels tired; however, her undertaking is forming shape. She cautiously opens her door and looks around. The broken skylight and the glass fragments on the floor are clear proofs of her nightly encounter. However, the guest himself is gone. She checks her other rooms to make sure that he is not lying somewhere dead on the floor, but everything is empty. She cleans up the mess in her living room what reminds her that she still has to tell her idiotic lawyer-neighbour about the broken window. She sighs; there is no point in delaying this unpleasant task. She knocks at Matt's door even if she has not yet out worked out a good lie for the presumably very pissed lawyer. She is rather relieved when nobody opened. She does not know that Matt is lingering on his sofa, being aware of every of her movement. He does not open the door because even if she did not recognise him the night before, he does not want her to see him hurt or limping. He wants to prevent that she puts two and two together by accident.

* * *

Matt finally does not manage to stay in bed for more than two nights. In the third night Daredevil is back in the streets, or, to be more precise, back on the roof tops. Matt is standing on the railing of the roof, reaching out with his senses for anything unusual or threatening. He catches a faint smell of explosives. He follows the smell, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. The smell is moving too, Matt notices the hum of a heavy van; he quickens his pace and catches up with the van at the moment it vanished in an old storage building. He follows the van into the building and hides in the shadow on a roof beam.

Two men get out of the car, Matt smells cheap vodka and Russian cigarettes, hears them talking in a low voice in Russian. Matt's attention is attracted by two other people, approaching the building on foot. A man and a woman. Matt recognises Lena by her scent even before she enters the building. She is accompanied by the man who called her the night he fell through her window. He has known that Lena has a secret; however, he never would have thought that she is a weapons dealer.

"Who is your friend, Frank?" the taller of the Russians asks when Lena and her boss have entered the building.

"The Captain is an arms expert. She will make sure that you don't sell crap," Frank says.

"The goods are in impeccable condition," assures the Russian.

"Let's have a look then", Lena says and walks around the van and waits until the Russians opened one of the boxes. She only takes a brief look at the grenades and starts laughing. "Impeccable condition? Yeah, they might have been, during the Cold War."

Frank approaches to examine the grenades as well. "You promised me first-class merchandise, Sergey, my buyers are very demanding."

"They may not be new, however, I assure you they will do", Sergey says.

"We might be able to sell them to a museum", Lena jokes and reaches out for one of the grenade.

"Hey, bitch, take your hands off these!" the small Russian shouts.

Lena turns around slowly. "Who are you calling bitch?"

That is the moment Matt attacks, he flips out of the shade, taking down Sergey, punching the other Russian hard in the face, before one of weapon dealers even know what happened. Lena notices how Frank pulls his gun, Daredevil grabs his hand before he can shoot. Lena pulls her own gun, for a second she has a clear firing line on the vigilante who is fighting the Russian and Frank at the same time. She moves her arm by an inch and fires. Matt feels the bullet which scrapes past him and pushes Frank towards her what makes her stumble. The Russian uses the moment and grasps for one of the grenade.

"Run!" Lena screams, grapping Frank and together they jump behind a low wall, just before hell breaks loose.


	4. Clash

**"** **The most confused you will ever get is when you try to convince your heart and spirit of something your mind knows is a lie." Shannon L. Alder**

* * *

The shock wave hits Matt and pushes him against the wall. His ears are ringing from the explosion; he smells nitrogen, burnt flesh and concrete dust. He feels disoriented; in some distance he notices movement. A stabbing pain in his leg and the smell of copper in the air tells him that the wound on his leg has opened again. He only hears the wails of the sirens when they just arrive in front of the building. He forces himself to get up and climb up the wall to the roof. Every jump from one building to another increases the pain. Exhausted he finally reaches his apartment.

Foggy waits for him, sitting on his sofa. "I came by because I thought you may be bored not being able to leave the house. Looks like you were able to entertain yourself pretty good", he greets his friend sarcastically when Matt limps down the stairs.

"Foggy, I just…"

"You look like crap," Foggy interrupts him. Nevertheless, he gets up, supports his friend getting down the last steps and helps him taking off the suit. "Sit down", he finally says, "Where is your first aid kit?"

"Cupboard", Matt answers, breathing heavily.

Foggy cleans the leg wound and dresses it. "When is Claire coming back?" Foggy asks, not sure if he is really treating Matt's injuries correctly. Apart from the old wound which has opened again, there are only minor bruises and scratches. The new suit turns out to be really an asset.

"I don't know", Matt replies. Claire was vague about both destination and length of her trip. Matt had the impression she did not want to talk about it, not with him at least.

"Perhaps you should ask your neighbour whether she wants to be your back-up nurse", Foggy suggests, "Because I do not want that job." He examines the bandage that he has just put on and decides that he has definitely more talent for law than medicine.

"She's dealing in weapons."

"Claire?"

"Lena."

"Your hot neighbour is dealing in weapons? Why I'm not surprised?"

Matt tells Foggy about the encounter with Lena, her partner Frank and the Russians.

"Did she make it through the explosion?" Foggy wonders.

Matt nods, he sensed Lena and Frank escaping from the building just before the police arrived. Matt has always thought that he is a good judge of characters. He has felt from their first meeting that Lena has been hiding something, but nonetheless, the discovery of tonight took him by surprise.

"The sister of my cousin's wife works in the military personnel administration. I call her tomorrow and see if she can help us with information on Lena," Foggy offers and he rises. He throws a blanket at his friend. "I take the bed."

"You don't have to stay, Foggy. I'm fine, the bleeding has already stopped", Matt assures, subduing a moan when stretching out on the sofa.

"I don't take the risk that you're going out again tonight as soon as I turn my back on you", Foggy states, "Either I stay to watch you, or I cuff you to your bed. Pick one."

Matt smirks. "Do you have the handcuffs from Marci?"

* * *

When Foggy wakes up the next morning, Matt is already up and is making coffee. Foggy has to admit that his friend looks surprisingly fresh, fresher than Foggy himself anyway. Foggy takes the cup that Matt passes him. Shortly after, they leave Matt's apartment. They are going down the stairs when Matt recognises the woman entering the building. "Lena", he whispers to Foggy.

Foggy has always been more into long-haired blondes. However, Lena has certainly the skull to wear it bare. She has green eyes, curved eyebrows and a long neck. She reminds Foggy of an Irish singer he used to like when he was young. Definitely hot. Even though she looks at the moment pretty messed up. First it looks as she just would pass Matt and Foggy without saying anything, but then she stops.

"Uh, Matt, since we happen to meet," she begins, "There was a problem with my skylight." Lena tries to concentrate. Her cocky neighbour is not really her most important problem right now. "Well, it broke", she says, too tired to work out a sophisticated lie.

"I've already noticed", Matt answers dryly.

"Good. I was worried you may fall through it when you are enjoying yourself on the roof", Lena replies in the same tone. She has the discomforting feeling that despite his blindness he is scrutinizing her. "I'll have it fixed the next days." She bears down the urge to punch him just because he is this arrogant lawyer and she ignores Matt's friend who seems to find the whole thing rather funny, at least he apparently tries to stifle a grin. "I'll keep you posted."

* * *

Lena closes the door behind her and is relieved that she is finally home. The encounter with her neighbour has been the last low point in a long row of low points in the last 24 hours: After the deal with the Russians had gone south because of the intervention of Daredevil and the whole building exploded, Lena and Frank barely made it out. Lena brought Frank back to his flat and patched him up. She then decided to sleep – or at least try to sleep - on his couch, on one hand to have an eye on him, on the other not to run into the hands of Daredevil again since the guy knows where she lives. However, she has felt safe to come back home in the morning, since daylight seems to be the natural enemy of every vigilante. She considers moving in a motel. She is sure that Daredevil will come for her after nightfall. All she needs are 48 hours to bring the undertaking to an end. She must find a way to stall the vigilante. She sighs, she desperately needs a plan. She takes off her clothes and examines the bruises and scratches on her body. She briefly glances at her mirror image; what she discovers is not really reassuring. She hopes that after a shower and a nap she and the world would look better.

Five hours later she has to admit that they do not. She calls Frank to convince him to move the undertaking out of Hell's Kitchen. To the countryside perhaps, or at least to another part of New York. However, she does not succeed. Frank made a very detailed plan from which he does not want to deviate. And he does not want to alarm the clients. Though, he has already increased the security measures. "I hired additional guards. They are all professionals. They will make quick work with this vigilante if he dares to show up again", he tries to reassure Lena. More mercenaries securing the undertaking do not really fit into Lena's plan. At least she persuades Frank to discuss with her all securities measures in detail. After that she finally has time to go running, her usual round down to the park. There she makes a short break and sits down on a bench as always. A man casually sits next to her. "Have you heard", he tells her conversationally, "there was an explosion just around the corner. They found two dead Russian weapons dealer. Witnesses even spotted the Devil of Hell's Kitchen on the crime scene."

"Hm," Lena replies.

"You look like you were in the middle of it."

"I'm fine. I'm ready for the last round." She rises, letting fall a piece of paper she had in her pocket. When she arrives back in her apartment she has worked out something like a plan.

* * *

Matt has just finished a written submission for one of their few clients, when Foggy enters his office. Karen went out for lunch, so they are alone. "I just talked to Linda. You know, the sister of my cousin's wife," he says.

"What did she find?"

"Most of Lena's file is restricted, but that's what we got: Captain Helena Susanna MacKenzie, expert for advanced weapon systems, Purple Heart, Silver Star, discharged eight months ago. She had several missions abroad, however, no details available. "

"She's a war hero", Matt states, "Why would she deal in weapons?"

"You know, it is not a secret that we don't treat our veterans always as we should. You risk your life for your country, return home from the battlefield with physical and psychical injuries, and all you get is a piece of worthless metal and no pension benefits. Did you know that more than 20 veterans commit suicide every day?" Foggy says.

"Are these already your closing arguments?" Matt cannot hide a grin.

"No. I'm not defending her. But, you know," Foggy shrugs, "Life is not always fair."

"Foggy, I can't let her sell grenades in Hell's Kitchen."

* * *

When Matt comes home in the evening he senses Lena in her apartment. He is not yet sure what he is going to do. However, shortly after nightfall, he hears Lena walking up the stairs to the roof. She is waiting, for Daredevil, no doubt. He suits up and leaves his apartment through a side window. He makes a detour via two neighbouring buildings before landing on the roof top of his house again. Lena is sitting with crossed legs on the top of a ventilator shroud, her gun in her lap.

"Marine, Samaritan, arms dealer. You have an interesting life, Lena."

"Says the vigilante in the mask", she replies.

"What did you and your boss want to do with these weapons?" He steps closer to her, threatening her with his mere presence. He senses her heartbeat increasing.

She grasbs her gun tighter, however does not aim at him. Not yet. "This is a bit out of your league. You should stick to the petty criminals."

"I can't let you get away with that."

"I had the opportunity to shoot you twice and I didn't. You owe me."

Matt is torn and angry. If anybody other was sitting vis-à-vis he would already have beaten the information out of him. He just discovers that it is not so easy to punch a woman who saved his life. A woman he has actually started to like – despite everything she has probably done or is up to do. However, he definitely feels the urge to punch someone or something at the moment.

Lena can see his rage. Suddenly she is not so sure any more about her strategy to stall him. He makes a sudden move towards her, she raises her gun; too slow, he knocks it out of her hand. She loses balance and falls from the ventilator shroud. Instantaneously Daredevil is above her, grabs her, pulls her up and throws her against the wall. She raises her arms to be ready to defend against the next attack; however, it does not come. He is pacing up and down, breathing heavily. Finally he approaches her, his face only inches away from hers. "You turn yourself in. Tomorrow," he hisses.

"No", she answers despite the fact that her body is trembling and she starts panicking. "But I will leave the city and I assure you that no weapon hits the streets of Hell's Kitchen through me."

Matt hits the wall next to Lena in frustration. She flinches. He feels her panic, she is terrified. Still, she does not give in. There is nothing he could do. She has called his bluff. He does not bring himself to beat her up and he has no evidence on her he could provide the police with.

"I can't tolerate any weapon deals taking place in Hell's Kitchen", he finally says, "Even if you saved my life."

"Next time I shoot, I won't miss", Lena replied and observes him leaping to the next roof. Lena waits until he has disappeared in the shadow of the night. Then she gasps for breath, her legs yield and she slips to the ground. It takes her a couple minutes to calm down before she can get up again. She grasps her gun and goes back in her apartment. She is pretty sure she has won that round. Well, sure enough.


	5. Disclose

" **We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin." André Berthiaume**

* * *

Lena is very careful the next day to make sure that she is not followed. She is doing most of the preparation during the day. When finally the evening of D-day has come she makes several detours, stopping from time to time to scrutinize every person around her, screening for a sign of Daredevil. Only when she is sure that nobody is on her tail she heads for her actual destination. It is an old office building at the edge of Hell's Kitchen which was severely hit by the incident and had to be evacuated. The owner started reconstruction but went bankrupt in the process, what left the building abandoned and empty. Lena does not know how Frank discovered it but she has to admit that it is the perfect place for the undertaking.

Frank is already there when Lena arrives. He is giving instructions to the security team. "You're late", he says reproachfully. "The first guests have already arrived."

"Sorry", replies Lena and wants to go past him, when the leader of the security team holds her back. "Ma'am, your phone and gun."

"Really?" asks Lena, glancing at Frank, who shrugs. "You know the rules. Every guest has to hand in all weapons and mobile devices. Only security is armed."

"I'm not a guest."

"Please, Lena", Franks says impatiently. "And don't forget the knife in your boot."

She sighs and let her SIG Sauer, the knife and the phone slip in the plastic bag the mercenary is handing her over. She knows that she is going to regret that.

* * *

Frank has started dealing in weapons when he still was a Marine Private. First, he sold stolen army property. When he became a Sergeant he decided that it was time to expand his business. It has always been Frank's dream to bring together buyers and sellers in a big weapon auction and finally he has reached his goal. He handpicked all participants; he hired Lena to make sure that only quality products are on sell. Frank considers Lena as damaged, no wonder after what happened to her; but he is sure that she hates the military as much as he does and he trusts in her expertise. He does not share her concerns about the security of the event; a dozen highly trained mercenaries are guarding the building. The incident with Daredevil could not bring him to move the auction out of Hell's Kitchen. One single man would not be able to stop him. He chose this place because its police force is weak, after the Fisk scandal most of Hell's Kitchen's police consists of dirty cops who have not yet been discovered and rookies.

* * *

Lena may be convinced that she was not followed; yet Matt has never lost her since the moment she left her apartment. He has followed her scent through the city until she reached the abandoned office building. But tonight it is not abandoned. From a roof nearby Matt is scanning the house. He senses the security guards, armed to their teeth, he observes the arrival of more people; people from all over the world based on the foreign flagrances Matt catches. He listens to the murmurs of mutual greetings. And in the middle of all, he recognises Lena's scent and the timbre of her voice. He has to stop this, even if he does yet know how.

Suddenly Matt feels movement outside the office building. He smells leader, weapons, hears the random noise of walkie-talkies. This night, Matt realises, this night, someone else would make sure that justice is served: The Marine Corps has arrived. Matt withdraws in the shadow and observes how hell breaks loose.

* * *

Lena takes cover behind a table when the first stun grenade crushes the window and lands on the ground. She could have stayed there and wait until it is over since her part in the undertaking ends right here. That are her orders, anyway. However, when she sees Frank retreating to the staircase, through the chaos of screaming, shooting and fighting, she curses and follows him, trying to keep her head down to not be hit in the cross fire between the security guards and the Marines. She cannot take the risk that Frank gets away, not after all she has worked for in the last weeks. Franks runs up the stairs towards the roof, Lena runs after him, catches up with him when he reaches the roof top. She tackles him from behind, takes him with her to the ground. Frank is taller and heavier than she is, but she is quicker and more agile. She dodges his blow and rams her fist in his kidney. He yells in pain but manages to land a punch in her face. She knows that she does not have to defeat him, just to hold him off long enough until back-up arrives. She kicks him, he staggers backward and Lena wants to place her next hit when Frank suddenly produces a gun. He grabs her and presses the gun at her forehead. Lena catches for her breath. She has known that she would regret not being armed.

"You sold me out!" Frank yells furiously at her, "I was there when we pulled you out of that whole. Bloody, torn, your hair full of vermin. They had known for weeks where you were held, but not even planned on a rescue mission. And you crawl back to them?"

"I've never left. Just changed unit", admits Lena.

"So I guess it was no coincidence that we bumped in each other in that bar."

"No," she answers. Keep talking, Lena, she tells herself, as long as you talk he does not shoot you. "We changed my file to make it look as if I had taken my leave from the Marines. In fact, I've been working with Marine Crime Investigations since I left the hospital. My boss was convinced that I'm the perfect bait for this mission, because you know me and my story."

"I thought we are on the same page, you and me, I thought we were friends."

"I don't make friends with arms dealers." Lena feels how Frank is grasping the gun tighter and closes her eyes. So, that is how it is going to end.

* * *

The roof is flat without any cover, no chance for a surprise attack out of the dark. But Matt has no choice, he feels Frank determination, he will kill Lena and the Marines are still four floors beneath the roof, searching one room after the other. They will not be there on time. Matt takes a run-up, jumps and lands at some distance from Frank and Lena. Too far away to reach Frank before he can pull the trigger.

"Let her go", Matt commands with a gravelly voice and makes a step towards them.

"Look who's here again." Frank grabs Lena by her throat, making her choke. "Take one step and I shoot her."

Matt stops and raises his hand to calm Frank down. "Let talk this over."

"It looks like I tear down another mask tonight", Frank teases. "Take it off!" he orders.

Matt focuses on Lena, he hears her heartbeat racing, but he also feels her being tense and focused.

"Your mask. Off!" Frank repeats, tightening the grip around Lena's neck. "One…two…", he starts counting.

Matt takes off his mask with a slow, controlled gesture. In the middle of it, he throws it with a sudden movement towards Frank and leaps out at the same time. Lena was ready to move as soon as Daredevil would make his move, ready to use that split of a second in which Frank would be distracted. However, the distraction hits her even harder. The surprise when she recognises Matt costs her a valuable fraction of a second before she hits Frank hard with her elbow; he draws back, but still has enough time to shoot before Lena can dodge. The pain hits her the same moment Matt reaches Frank and throws him to the ground. Frank is forced to let the gun fall, but manages to punch Matt hard with his head and get up. Lena's eyes catches Franks gun, lying on the floor. She reaches it the moment Frank pulls out a knife from his jacket. Matt backs off; Lena shoots, once, twice. Frank slumps down, falls to the ground. For a moment, Matt stands still, breathing heavily, feeling how the life runs out of Frank's body.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Lena's breaking voice brings him back.

He kneels over her. "Lena, are you okay?"

"You are a fucking lawyer!" Lena repeats totally perplex.

"The bullet went through your shoulder. It's bleeding heavily, but it's not fatal." He touches her shoulder what makes her flinch. She moans.

Matt senses heavy boots coming up the staircase. He has only seconds before the whole roof would be filled with armed Marines. He assures again that Lena is okay before escaping to the top of the adjoining building. He knows that his retreat could easily be futile if Lena decides to reveal his identity to the authorities. He was wrong, Lena is not a weapons dealer, she is a Federal Agent on an undercover mission. And that could cost him his neck. So, that is how it is going to end?


	6. Relate

**_"_** ** _Show me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy." F. Scott Fitzgerald_**

* * *

Matt arrives home, takes off the suit and indulges in a long hot shower, maybe his last for a long time. Then he puts on his sweat pants and a shirt. There is nothing left to do than to wait. But neither a SWAT team storms his apartment nor Lena returns home that night. The next morning, Matt goes to the office and updates Foggy on the events of the last night.

"So your hot neighbour isn't an arms dealer but an undercover agent of the Marines?" Foggy sums up.

Matt nods.

"I check whether I can find a copy of military procedure law. Just in case," Foggy says, sighing.

* * *

When Matt comes back to his apartment in the evening, Lena has still not returned home. He can tell because the remnants of her scent would be stronger if she was home while he was out. It is already dark when he hears her coming up the stairs eventually. He opens the door to catch her. Her left arm is in a sling; Matt feels her being tired and torn.

"I don't want to talk to you," she says even before he can open his mouth. "All I want is a hot bath, at least a bottle of wine and twelve hours sleep." She slams the door behind her without waiting for his reaction.

* * *

The racing of her heart wakes him up even before she starts screaming. Matt hears her gasping for air and running up the stairs to the roof. He rises and fetches a bottle of Whiskey from the very back of his cupboard. Foggy gave it to him for his last birthday. Matt grabs a blanket and takes it together with the bottle up to the roof. Lena is sitting on the ventilator shroud, she has calmed down. He hands her the bottle, which she accepts silently, and wraps her in the blanket before sitting next to her. Lena takes a gulp Whiskey and starts coughing when the liquid burns in her throat. She gives the bottle back to Matt and examines him closely. For the first time she sees him without glasses or mask. This is neither the snotty lawyer nor the fierce vigilante. He looks young and vulnerable. She looks into his dark eyes which are not able to focus what proves that he is really blind.

* * *

"Thanks for keeping my secret," he finally says.

"You revealed yourself to save my life. I owed you," Lena replies, shrugging, "And you don't fall under my jurisdiction anyway."

He smiles and takes a sip from the bottle.

* * *

"I really want to know how you do what you do despite being blind. But I have another question first: You're smart. You studied at some fancy Ivy League University," she says, pointing at his shirt with the Columbia logo. "Why not become a prosecutor if you want to fight crime?"

Matt hesitates and takes another swig; this question is actually more difficult to answer than how his heightened senses are working. "Sometimes, the law is not enough," he replies after a pause.

"Maybe. But I saw you out there, I saw you fight. There is something else that drives you."

Matt tries to find the right words to express what haunts him. "There is this rage. Deep inside me," he explains, "Like a beast that craves to be fed with violence and pain." Besides Father Lantom, Matt has never spoken to someone about this brutal force inside of him; this force that is clawing to be let out and is sometimes hardly to control.

"And punching people make it better," concludes Lena.

"It helps." He shrugs.

* * *

Lena shakes her head. It is hard to believe that the blind man next to her is the same who threatened her at the very same spot two nights before. "You really scared me, that night, you know. I thought you're going to beat the crap out of me."

"Sorry. In my defence, I thought you are an arms dealer. A very uncooperative one."

"I was quite pissed off by both of your personas: By vigilante Daredevil because he jeopardized my mission and by lawyer Matt Murdock, because he denied my roof access," she says and takes the bottle. For a moment they are sitting silently, drinking in turns.

* * *

"I can sense you, at night," Matt admits eventually.

"Sense me? You mean you hear me scream?" Lena is not surprised that he can hear her. Even the neighbour below has already complained about it.

He shakes his head. "No, that's not…I mean yes, I hear your scream. But that's not all." He opens and closes his mouth a couple of times, searching for the right words. "I can hear the racing of your heartbeat, when the nightmare starts. I can smell the cold sweat when you startle awake, gasping for your breath. I feel the vibrations of the floor when you're beating the crap out of your punching bag."

He reaches out his hand and touches her shoulder. Lena flinches and hesitates for a moment, at last she lets the blanket slip from her back. "Scar tissue is not as good supplied with blood than healthy skin," he explains. "There is a significant difference in the emission of body heat."

She shivers when he follows the scars with his fingertips. "It was a recon mission," Lena tells him, "Pure routine, no trouble expected. Only that it turned out to be trap." Lena takes a big gulp Whiskey. "Two of my men were killed right away. The rest of us were abducted, held prisoners in a... hole in the ground."

Matt feels the increasing of her heartbeat and takes her hand to calm her down. She digs her fingernails in his arm when she continues speaking. "They wanted to exchange us for some imprisoned terrorist. But the government doesn't negotiate with terrorists."

"How long have you been held captive?" he asks softly.

"Eight months, three weeks and five days."

For a moment she remains silent. Matt waits patiently until she goes on. "It's not the memories of the torture or the violations that hunt me in my sleep. Whenever I lie down at night and close my eyes, I hear the screams of my men. I was responsible for them and I failed them."

"You survived," he says. Matt wraps her tight in the blanket again.

"Yeah, I survived." There is resignation and sadness in her voice. She takes deep breath. "I don't sleep more than four hours in a row. When I wake up I feel like choking. Punching something helps, so I can empathise with you."

"Fresh air would help too, I guess. If some arrogant lawyer wouldn't have denied you roof access."

There's a suggestion of a smile in the corner of her mouth. "I was so mad at you. But I understand now why you didn't want me up here. No need for witnesses for your nightly forays."

"You're welcome on my roof anytime."

* * *

"How do cope?" Lena asks, "Pretending that you are a blind lawyer defending the law, when in reality you this bad ass vigilante with superpowers who takes the law in his own hands?"

Matt shrugs. "I survive. And I have a priest I talk to."

"To confess your sins?" Lena asks surprised.

"To discuss questions of morality, of good and evil."

"So, no nightmares?"

"I do have nightmares," Matt admits, "But not about what I do. Sometimes, I'm afraid I may not able to protect the people I care about."

It is Lena's turn to squeeze softly his hand to comfort him.

"Do you have someone to talk to?" Matt asks.

"I'm required to see a shrink every second week."

"Does it help?"

Lena shrugs. "It might. If I told her the whole truth. That I wake up screaming every night, that I can't be physically close and intimate with somebody without panicking. But if I told her the truth, she probably wouldn't declare me fit for duty."

* * *

"Frank knew about your insomnia," Matt states, "I overheard your phone call the night you patched me up," he adds when he notices Lena's surprise.

"Ah, superhearing." Lena cannot really visualise Matt's abilities despite the short sample he gave her. "Frank was right, you know," Lena admits, "We were friends. He was part of the team that rescued me. He knew, saw what happened…" Her voice breaks and she clears her throat. "I used that to make him believe that I'm willing to work for him. I made him trust me and at the end, I killed him." She swallowed hard. "Do you think that makes me a bad person?"

"I think that makes you to a good agent."

"I know that perhaps you could have stopped him, that it wasn't necessary to shoot him. But when he pulled that knife…I was trained not to take that chance."

"I've never crossed that line and I'm afraid of what I become when I do. Some of the guys I beat up won't be able to walk on their own again, though."

"That's a pretty blurred line."

"I know," Matt concedes, "Therefore I'm not really in the position to judge you."

* * *

"How did you get your superpowers? Is this just a side-effect of you blindness or are you some kind of alien?" Lena asks casually to ease up the atmosphere.

Matt grins. "No alien. And no superpowers actually. When I was a child I crashed into barrels of chemicals which damaged my vision. Since then all other senses are heightened. I guess the chemicals are responsible for that as well." He shrugs.

"You've never talked to a doctor about it?"

He shakes his head. "I've not even told my father about it. Only a few people know what I do and who I am."

* * *

"So, what's next for you?" Matt asks.

"Filing reports for my undercover mission, I guess", Lena answers. "I'm really glad I didn't turn you over. I don't think the Marines have a standard form for vigilantes. And if there is no form, the paper work is endless."

Matt laughs. "It's comforting that there is this huge hurdle which protects my secret."

"Who would believe me, anyway? Daredevil, a blind lawyer." She shakes her head; it is still hard for her to believe. "Promise me one thing, Matt, promise me to take care of you."

"I'm a big boy, you know."

"I'm serious. At the moment Daredevil might be only a nuisance for the authorities and a small fish among all these superheroes. But one day, the government may insist on reclaiming its monopoly on the use of force."

Matt nods, "I watch out," he promises.

Lena takes a last sip from the bottle and presses a short kiss on Matt's temple. "It was nice meeting you, Matt, the real you."

"Same here." Matt remains sitting, following Lena down the stairs with his senses. When he is sure that she is safely back in her bed, he cocks his head and reaches out to the city. The wind has picked up and there is a growl of thunder, very far away. A storm is coming.


	7. Proceed

**_"_** ** _Life is not about finding yourself, it is about creating yourself." G.B. Shaw_**

* * *

"You are the third person with a shotgun wound I see today," Claire says wearily while she examines the flesh wound on Matt's shoulder. Since Claire has returned to the city, Matt's nightly calls have been rare. One reason is certainly the new suit which provides a quite efficient protection. "The others weren't so lucky, though. They both died in surgery. Teenagers, virtually still kids," Claire adds.

"Someone is flooding the streets of the city with automatic weapons, military grade." Matt grits his teeth when Claire starts stitching the wound.

"Do you have a lead?"

Matt shakes his head. "It seems that – whoever it is – sells them especially to youth gangs."

"You don't beat on kids, do you?"

"I try to avoid it," Matt does not really feel comfortable punching teenagers. In contrast, some of the young gang members have no problems to shoot with their newly acquired weapons on Daredevil. The result is the bad flesh wound on his shoulder that forced him to call Claire, but no lead on the source of the weapons.

"Okay, I'm done." Claire rises, takes off her gloves and throws the bloody dressing material in the wastebasket.

"Thank you, Claire," Matt hesitates, "Do you want something to drink?"

Clare shakes her head. "No, I have to go back to the hospital." Claire is not naïve. She knows what she wants and what she needs. She likes Matt, very much if she is honest. Perhaps even too much to keep her distance. Yet she knows that there are no happy endings with vigilantes. Matt will never stop being Daredevil, not until he is stopped by a bullet or a knife. She does not want to spend her nights awake, worrying if Matt returns home safe and alive. And she does not want to stand on his grave one day, alone. She wants more, she deserves more. She wants a partner who is lying next to her at night. A man that makes her life easier, not one that makes it volatile and risky. A man with whom she can plan a future together: Kids, a dog, maybe a house in a suburb. Her dreams may be ordinary, but she knows, in the long run that will make her happier than an unsteady life with a vigilante - despite the toned abs and the charming smirk of that particular vigilante. She suspects that Matt knows about her dilemma and that this is another reason why he only calls her when his injuries are really bad.

* * *

"Would you take some pictures for me before you go?" Matt asks and hands Claire his phone. Despite all his heightened senses, taking sharp pictures, choosing the right angle or section with a camera is impossible for him.

"Sure."

Matt rises slowly and pulls out a blanket from under the sofa. Wrapped in it is an assault rifle.

"You were shot with this? God, you were even luckier than I thought."

Matt does not feel lucky at the moment. The pain from the shoulder radiates through his whole body, it will slow him down for a couple of days. And in this time a full-scaled war could develop between the gangs of Hell's Kitchen – battled with military grade rifles.

"What do you want to do with the pictures?" Claire asks.

"I want to send them to my former neighbour. She is a Marine. She might be able to tell me something about the weapon."

"The woman who patched up your leg wound?"

"Yeah, she went back to Washington."

"Give her my regards; she did a good job with that."

* * *

After Claire is gone, Matt sends the pictures to Lena. He is not sure if she even in the country. She is calling him from time to time. Matt suspects to check whether he is still alive. Last time, she told him that she would be abroad for a couple of weeks. But she still may be able to give him a tip about the origin of the weapon. His own knowledge of assault rifles is less than limited. And the time is working against him.


	8. Collaborate

**_"_** ** _Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light._** ** _"_** ** _Helen Keller_**

* * *

A loud knocking on his door wakes him up. He moans when he accidently shifts his weight to his left arm and the pain is hitting him. It takes a moment until all his senses wake up as well. He fumbles for his speaking clock. "It's nine and thirty six minutes," the mechanical voice announces. For a second, Matt thinks that he has overslept but then he remembers that it is Saturday and he does not have to go to the office. Another knocking, louder this time. He rises, shuffles towards the door, putting on a hoodie on the way. He opens the door. "Hello, Captain." He sketches a salute as she is wearing uniform; Matt can smell the starched shirt and sense the rubbing of the thick fabric.

"Hi Matt", Lena kisses him on the cheek and squeezes lightly his arm. She frowns when he flinches.

"That bad?" she asks worried, following him to the living room, trying to ignore the effects his tousled hair has on her.

He waves his hand. "Just a scratch."

She doubts. "Need patching up?" She tosses her duffle bag in a corner.

Matt shakes his head. "A friend of mine, she's a nurse at the Metro General, she came by last night."

"With your nightly activities, it's certainly an advantage to be close friend with any kind of medical personnel. Some superheroes as backup might also come handy."

"I already have the Marine Corps, so what do I need Ironman for?"

She grins. "Semper fi! The pictures you send made me interested. And since I don't have any urgent cases at the moment, I thought I drop by and have a look myself."

"You're very welcome", he says. In fact, just listening to Lena's voice and her velvet chuckle makes him forget his pain. "Coffee?" he asks.

"Sure."

He pulls the rifle from under the sofa first and then goes then to the kitchen to make coffee. Lena sits down on the floor and examines the weapon. "Looks like an old army rifle. The serial number is removed. It's in poor shape. Someone fixed it, but not really in a professional manner. Where did you get it?"

"Someone is equipping gangs with them. I have to stop that, before we have a full-fledged war in Hell's Kitchen."

"There are more?"

"Dozens."

"It's definitely military. But from a single weapon is hard to say where it's from. I need to see more of them."

"The police might have more. They are investigating on the matter as well, but my contact in the police department wasn't very talkative." In fact, Brett Mahoney just refused to share any information with him when he – as Matt Murdock – visited him at the precinct. "No information sharing with the enemy" was the police officer's position.

"Well, maybe I'm more successful. Could test how inter-agency cooperation is really working today."

"That may be in fact helpful." Matt handed her a cup with coffee and sits down on the sofa. "And how are you?" he asks.

Lena shrugs. "Okay, I guess. The nights are getting better."

"Liar."

"Likewise." She rises, approaches him and pats him firmly on his left shoulder, what makes him groan. "Just a scratch? A shot from such a weapon can rip off your arm. You were damn lucky."

"Yeah, Claire…my friend, she said the same thing." Matt moves his left arm to test its flexibility and notices that the bandage that Claire had put on has loosened. He asks Lena to help him change it.

"Sure," Lena says. Though when he takes off his hoodie and she sits down next to him on the sofa, she is not so sure that this was a good idea. She remembers the night he fell through her skylight and she patched him up. Then as now, she feels the intensity of his presence. And the fact that he is half naked makes it not easier. Her eyes catch the many scars on this body and for a moment, she holds her breath. He notices her hesitation. "That bad?"

She shakes her head. "No…yes! You will kill yourself one day, you know that." She removes the bandage on the arm. The neat stitches are holding. The wound does not look infected.

"It may not look like it, but I'm getting better at beating on the bad guys." He grins roguishly and Lena comes definitely to the conclusion that having Matt that close to her is not good for her inner balance. She quickly searches an appropriate patch in Matt's first aid box and applies it on the wound. Then she grabs the hoodie and throws it to him. "You should put that on again."

"Do I make you nervous?" he teases her.

"Just worried that you catch a cold. As I said, you're not my type."

"Liar." He reaches for her hand and presses his fingers softly on her artery. "Your heartbeat is giving you away."

"Show-off," she replies, trying to ignore the prickling feeling in her stomach when he starts kissing the inside of her wrist. He caresses her neck, pulls her gently closer to him, before kissing her lips. She lets it happen, for a moment at least. She draws back when she feels his hand on her thigh. She clears her throat. "I'd better go to the precinct and check what they have on the weapons."

"Yeah, that's a good idea."

"Can I leave my bag? I pick it up later when I check into a hotel for the night."

"Sure. Call me if there are any news." Matt sighs when she is gone, he knows that he scared her off.

* * *

Lena arrives at the precinct shortly before noon. She goes directly to the desk sergeant. "My name is Captain Helena MacKenzie, Marine C.I.D.," she introduces herself, flashing her ID-badge.

Brett Mahoney, who is on week-end shift, straightens up involuntary when he sees the woman in uniform.

"We got a tip about military weapons in New York. I'm charged with a preliminary investigation on their source," Lena explains.

The rest of the day, Lena works through dozens of police reports, interrogation protocols and witness statements. Brett takes her as well to the evidence room where she examines the seized weapons. Like the one she saw in Matt's apartment, they all are old and have clear traces of usage. Lena doubts that they were stolen from the military, and if so – years ago. She tells Brett her conclusion that it does not look like a case for her agency.

Brett sighs. "We could have used some help."

"I'm checking our files when I'm back in the office. Perhaps I find some old cases which aren't yet resolved," she promises. "And I heard you have the devil on your side, anyway."

Brett sighs again. "They call him Daredevil these days."

"What do you think of him?" Lena asks.

Brett shrugs. "It's not a secret that our precinct had a problem with dirty cops and we owe to Daredevil that Fisk was taken down. Yet, as a cop – and as citizen in fact – I cannot approve vigilante justice. Fisk and his alleys account for their actions in court now. To whom Daredevil is accountable?"

Lena nods, she understands Mahoney's point of view very well and, in principle, she agrees with him. She knows that she is aiding and abetting a vigilante. Something that is not really compatible with her job as a law enforcing agent.

A loud alarm is interrupting her thoughts. "There was a shooting at 49th. They bring in some gangbangers," Brett informs her. Lena decides to wait, maybe a look at the suspects would give a new lead. Finally the police officers arrive with only one suspect at the precinct, two more were directly brought to ER, they might not making it.

"Did he talk?" Lena asks Brett. The young police officer shakes his head. "He asked for his lawyer right away." Brett nods towards a well-dressed man at the other side of the room. "And he arrived spot on. Thomas Marshall, attorney-at-law." The contempt in Brett's voice cannot be missed.

"Why sounds the name familiar?" Lena wonders.

"You read it in the files. He defends all these gangbangers."

"Do you think he has something to do with the weapons?"

"You mean, that he sells first weapons to the gangs that so he later can make money defending them in court?" Brett shakes his head. "That's too far-fetched. He's just a greedy pettyfooger."

Lena is not so sure. It sounds far-fetched, sure. But she doubts that there is much money in defending gangbangers. She says goodbye to Brett and leaves the police station. It is already dark outside. She makes a few steps and hides in the shadow of an alley.

* * *

She does not have to wait long, before Thomas Marshall steps out of the building. The attorney is an easy subject to follow, he walks down the street without turning back. Lena stops in the corner when he enters a club. The bouncer at the door just waves him through, he seems to be a regular.

This could be a dead end, perhaps Marshall is just enjoying his beer after a long working day in his favourite club. To find out, she must follow him in the club, however, in her uniform, she is not really low-key. And Lena knows that it would be reckless to go in without back-up. The opposite building is abandoned, probably another ruin left by the incident. Lena squeezes through a gap in the barricaded entrance. She calls Matt and gives him a short update. "When you bring me some of my clothes, I can go in the club and have a closer look at this guy," she concludes. "In my bag are some skinny jeans and a black…sorry...silk top."

Matt is not really fond of Lena's idea, but he knows that he hardly would be able to argue her out of it, so he gives in.

* * *

Even though she is expecting him, Matt takes her by surprise when he finally arrives in the building. He is in his Daredevil outfit and Lena notices once more how different effects his three personas – Matt, Daredevil, the attorney – have on her. He is not threatening her at all at the moment, however, not only the costume, his whole body language is menacing when he is Daredevil. He hands her a plastic bag with her clothes.

"I would ask you to turn around, but I guess that makes no difference for you," Lena says. "I mean, can you tell whether a person is clothed or not, anyway?"

Matt answers with a vague hum. He makes a few steps back and turns around to give her some privacy, but she is right, it makes no difference. And hell yes, he can sense the difference between a naked woman and a dressed one. He smells the pure scent of her naked skin when she takes off her jacket and skirt. He senses the reaction of her body hair to the draft. He tries to focus on the club, however his senses wander back to Lena.

"I thought you would come in plain clothes. You could have accompanied me in the club. With your injuries, there is no fighting anyway."

"I don't like crowded places, loud music and artificial fog very much. My senses tend to overload in such places," Matt explains. "And my shoulder is better. I meditated this afternoon."

"If you say so," Lena answers doubtfully. She checks her outfit, she was not prepared to go in some fancy clubs that weekend, but the jeans and the close-fitting shirt were sexy enough to go pass any bouncer. But definitely not to hide a gun, so she puts her SIG Sauer in the bag. The knife must be sufficient tonight.

"I'll watch your back," Matt promises. "And you look awesome."

"How'd even you know?"

"I know."

* * *

 _ **Author's note: Thanks to everyone who follows, favorites and reviews my story. I know that it took a while until the latest update. I'm a bit busy with other things at the moment, but I haven't given up on the story and it be continued.  
**_


	9. Rescue

**_"_** ** _The first step to healing is recognizing that there's a wound." Unknown_**

* * *

The bouncer at the door let her pass after checking her handbag and Lena enters the club. She looks around. The décor of the club is held in Japanese style, a lot of red and black glossy surfaces. A band is performing on a small stage, the artists almost disappearing in the artificial fog. The club is not really crowded; it is probably still a bit too early. Lena sits down at the bar, orders a beer and scans the patrons. Most of the guests look like bankers or lawyers, not one looks like the average gangbanger. And no signs of Marshall. The barkeeper, a young woman with incredible blond hair and a crewcut, puts the beer in front of Lena. "Nice hair," Lena says.

"Like yours too", the girls replies. "I thought about shaving them completely."

"Saves time in the morning," Lena grins. "Perhaps you can help me. I'm looking for a friend of mine," she continues, "Tom. He looks a bit like George Clooney. He told me that he's here every Saturday."

The barkeeper frowns and hesitates. "Are you a friend of his?"

Lena shrugs casually. "I met him a couple of weeks ago. He said I should drop in when I'm in the city." She gives the barkeeper a conspiratorial smile. "Did I mention that he looks like George Clooney?"

"He's a regular," the girl finally says. "He's in meeting with the owner upstairs. Might take a while."

Lena sighs theatrically. "Business at Saturday night? I'm not into workaholics."

A man, obviously drunk, approaches Lena and grabs her arm. "Hey Babe, what you're doing so alone?"

Lena shakes him off and rolls her eyes in the direction of the barkeeper. "Washrooms?" she asks.

"In the back", the girl answers, shrugging apologetically.

* * *

The drunken patron has given Lena a good excuse to leave the bar and have a look at the upstairs rooms of the club. She ignores the door to the restrooms and takes instead the next one with the label "Private" on it. Stairs are leading up to the next floor. Lena slowly walks up, listening carefully for any noise. At the top of the stairs is a short corridor. Lena catches some hushed voices through one of the doors, but despite eavesdropping she cannot understand what they are saying. A super-hearing would come handy, she thinks. She listens at the next door and slowly opens it. She is prepared with an excuse if someone was in the room, but it is empty. It is a small office room with a big desk in the middle and a couple of shelves on the walls. There is a connecting door to the next room from where the voices come and it is left a crack open. Now the voices are more distinctive and Lena realises that they are not speaking English but an Asian language, Japanese she guesses. She peeks through the narrow crack and catches a glimpse at a broad back which she assumes belongs to Marshall and the face of a young Japanese man. She makes a step back to not being discovered and examines the room she is in. Spread on the desk is a big map of Hell's Kitchen and a couple of site plans. Lena takes some pictures of them with her smart phone. She silently goes through a pile of other documents on the table, most of them related to building permits. Nothing which seems to have a connection with weapons. She hesitates when she spots a document with a blue logo in the letterhead which looks familiar. It is an offer for some construction related logistics. Not really suspicious but Lena takes a picture of it anyway.

Finally she opens cautiously one of the cupboards, but not cautiously enough, because something falls from one of the boards before she can react. The thing, which turns out to be a rifle, lands noisily on the floor. Lena hears the men in the adjoining room get up and come towards her. For a short moment she considers running, but she knows that is too late for that.

"What are you doing here?" the young Japanese barked at her when he enters the office through the connecting door and spots her. Marshall and another Japanese man enter the small office just behind him. Lena weights her chance to take on all three of them. She would not put money on her.

"Uhm, I tried to hide. There's this guy. He's totally drunk and followed me to the washrooms. Sorry, I didn't want to disturb you." Lena smiles as innocent as possible and just ignores the weapon which is lying at her feet. "Perhaps one of the gentlemen would be so kind as to have a look at the corridor and check whether he is gone?"

"She was sneaking around", Marshall accuses her, pointing at the rifle on her feet.

"Oh sorry, the cupboard was open and I wanted to close it. I couldn't help." She shrugs and makes a step towards the door.

"I'm sorry, M'me, but I can't let you go." The Japanese slowly pulls a gun from under his jacket. That is the moment Lena realises that it does not matter whether they believe her or not, she has seen too much and would kill her in any case. She leaps forward, pushes over the desk, forcing the men to step back, and grabs the rifle from the floor. She realises that it is unloaded and tries to uses it to hit the Japanese with its stock. But the man blocks the hit and pulls the weapon out of her hands. Lena flees the room, slamming the door behind her. She hastily looks around, she hears steps coming up the stairs so she turns in the other direction and runs along the corridor. Someone is shouting at her, she does not turn back but flees into the staircase at the other end of the corridor. She runs up the stairs, hears door slamming behind her. She feels a bullet whizzing close to her before she even hears the explosive sound of a firing gun. She leaves the staircase at the fourth floor, entering another corridor when suddenly the lights go out. Lena hopes that her blind backup is accountable for that, securing an advantage. She turns around a corner, picking up a metallic waste bin on the way, and presses herself against the wall. She forces herself to breath regularly, listening to the heavy steps of her pursuer. The moment he comes around the corner she hits him as hard as she can with the bin. He stumbles back and Lena punches him with her fist in the stomach. Another man is approaching her and Lena tries to grab the gun her opponent has let fallen. She is not fast enough and one of the other men hits her hard in the face and makes her stumble. He raises his gun and in the moment Lena thinks that he is going to pull the trigger, he goes down, hit by a fast flying object. Only a split second later, a dark shape appears, flipping and going after the man. Lena gets back on her feet, kicks her first pursuer in the guts when he tries to get up again. Matt is still pounding with his fists on the other even though he is already unconscious.

"Let's go out of here," Lena gasps. Matt does not react, just goes on beating the guy.

"He's out!" Lena grabs his shoulder. "He's out. Let's go out of here."

Matt breathes heavily and it takes him a moment to react to Lena. "To the roof," he says tersely, finally let go from his opponent. Lena has problems to keep up with him when they are running along the corridor and out of a window to the fire escape, up to the roof.

"Jump!" he commands and drags her with him, letting Lena no time to think whether she actually can take the four meter leap to the next building. She lands hard on her knees. Matt pulls her up. "Keep going." He leads her through the night, over roof tops and fire escapes until they arrive finally at Matt's building and enter his apartment through the roof access.

* * *

"What were you thinking?" Matt yells angrily when they finally arrived in his apartment. He throws his mask in a corner.

"And what you were thinking?" Lena yells back, trying to catch her breath. "You've almost beaten that guy to death and you couldn't stop yourself!"

"That guy would have killed you. That's not a game!" Matt is angry. Angry with Lena, but mostly he is angry with himself that he let Lena going into the club in the first place.

"No, it's not," Lena agrees. "And I'm not sure that you know that. There's accountability for everything we do."

"Do you think that I don't know that?" Matt replies hoarsely.

Lena sighs and shakes her head. It may have been a mistake to get even deeper involved with a vigilante. But she does not want to fight anymore, not tonight when every part of her body is hurting, not only from the fight but also from the parcouring over the roofs of Hell's Kitchen.

She picks up her duffle bag and goes towards the door.

"Where do you want to go?" Matt asks.

"In a hotel. I'm tired and I need a shower and I was beaten on enough today."

"You can't…you can use mine." Matt forces himself to calm down. "It's late and it could be a bit difficult to find a hotel room in your…condition. You can have my bedroom, I sleep on the couch."

Lena glances down and notices that her jeans are torn and her knees grazed as well as her knuckles. She touches her cheekbone where the guy hit her and winces. She does not need a mirror to know how bad she must look. She feels torn and tired and does not fancy the idea of finding a hotel room in the middle of the night. For a moment both are just standing there, facing each other, silently. Finally Lena gives in and let herself fall to the couch. Matt grabs an ice bag from the fridge and hands it to her. He clears his throat. "What have you found in club?" he asks. "Apart from the obvious fact that Marshall works for the Yakuza".

"There were some weapons in a cupboard. Definitely the same as on the streets. But I hadn't time to take a closer look. And I found this." She takes her phone and scrolls through the pictures.

"You will have to describe it to me." Matt says, hinting a smile.

"Oh, sorry." Sometimes Lena just forgets that he is blind. "There were construction plans of a block in Hell's Kitchen."

"Where exactly?"

Lena examines the plans more closely. "It's a block at tenth and forty-ninth."

"Elena Cardenas' building," Matt states and suddenly the feeling of helplessness and guilt is there again.

"Who is Elena Cardenas?" Lena asks, noticing Matts change of mood. He sighs and tells to Lena how they gain Elena as a client and how she died.

"What happened to the building?" Lena asks after a pause.

"They have torn it down. But after the arrest of Fisk, all of his construction projects were put on hold."

"Looks like someone has plans for it again," Lena says. "I also found an offer of a company named Listed Logistics Ltd. Does that sound familiar?"

Matt shakes his head. "No, why?"

"I don't know, I just have the impression that I've seen their logo somewhere else. I'll have someone at my office make an inquiry on it. If there is any connection with the military, they'll find out." She glimpses at her watch, it is already after midnight. She yawns.

"You can have the bathroom first," Matt offers.

Lena nods and half an hour and a hot shower later she feels better. When she comes back to the living room Matt has taken off his suit and wears only boxers. "Shall I have a look at your shoulder?" she asks when she notices that the wound has opened again. Matt shakes his head. "I'm fine." Lena doubts but she does not insist. When she reaches the bedroom she turns around again. "Thank you for saving my life. Again."

Matt smiles. "You're welcome."

She closes the sliding door which separates the bedroom from the rest of the apartment and Matt hears her lying down.

* * *

The walls seem to collapse and Lena tries to escape but she does not have control over her legs. Someone is screaming. She tries to breath but the air is full of dust and dirt. Lena startles awake and realises that she has heard her own scream. She sits up and it takes her a moment to realise that she is at Matt's place. She forces herself to breath in and out to calm down. She hears Matt walking around in the apartment. She gets up and opens the door to the living room. Matt is standing in the kitchen, pouring in a glass of water. He wears sweat pants and Lena wonders whether this guy does not own any shirts.

"Sorry, I woke you up," she says.

"It's okay," he replies, handing her the glass. "Do you want to go to the roof? Or hit something? I'm available; I'm quite good at taking punches."

Lena manages to smirk. "I just need a moment to shake it off, before I can sleep again."

She steps to the window bank, glancing at the moving add which illuminates Matt's apartment in ever changing colours. He approaches her, laying a hand on her shoulder. She takes a deep breath and leans against him. He feels warm and safe. "Sometimes I have the feeling that the world around me is just cold and dark, violent and merciless," she says.

"I know the feeling."

"And how do you cope with it? How can you just go on?"

"I remind myself that I'm not alone. That there are people in my life who care about me and that I only have to let them care about me."

She turns around, reaches out and touches the long scarf just below his ribs with her fingertips. "What's about 'I'm not your type'?" he asks hoarsely.

"What's about that I'm a liar?"

Matt bends forward and kisses her, tenderly first, then more intensely, absorbing the enticing scent of her skin. He feels the heat of her body and her touch makes him shiver. He presses her against the window and leaves a row of kisses down her neck. Lena closes her eyes and tries to concentrate on prickling feeling Matt is causing in her and to ignore the growing anxiety. Matt makes a step back, giving her some space. "Are you okay?" he asks softly.

"I want this," she assures him. "I really do. But since my…captivity, I…it's hard for me to be close to someone. Last time I tried, I panicked and the guy freaked out."

"I don't freak out so easily," Matt replies, "And you lead the way."

She takes his hand and leads him to the sleeping room. She sinks to the bed, pulling Matt over her. He kisses her and feels that she becomes tense again. "Do you know why sharks won't attack lawyers?" he asks suddenly.

Lena looks up puzzled. "What?"

"Professional courtesy," Matt says without stopping caressing her neck.

Lena frowns and tries to concentrate on what he has just said. "Are you trying to tell me a joke?"

"Yes, and you should actually laugh", Matt replies, pretending to be offended. "Let's try another one: How do you find a blind man in a nudist colony?"

"I have no idea."

"It's not hard."

Lena laughs and relaxes. "You may be wrong on that one." She moves her hand down his body and coaxes a gentle moan of him. "Thank you."

"What for?" Matt asks.

"Making me laugh."

"I have one more. Walks a blind lawyer in a bar…" Matt does not get to finish that joke that night.


	10. Romance

**"** **We live in our fantasies and endure our realities." Robert Anton Wilson**

* * *

Matt wakes up and notices at once that something feels not as usual. The scent of Lena's naked skin tickles his nose. Her head lies on his side and her warm breath flows over his skin and make his breast hair vibrate. The calm beating of her heart echoes in his chest. Yeah, today waking up does not feel as usual, it definitely feels better than usual. He tries not to move to not wake her up since he does not want this moment to end. He takes a deep breath and opens up all his senses to indulge in this marvellous sensation. He dozes off again, losing himself in a dream where he is lying with Lena on an endless beach on a lonesome island.

It is finally Lena moving which brings him back again. "Hey sleepy head," she murmurs with a hoarse voice. "Where does a girl get breakfast around here?" she asks.

Matt sprawls. "My omelette is widely acknowledged as outstanding."

"Mmh, I'm tempted." Lena smiles. She presses a kiss on his naked chest, "Shower first?"

"Mmh, I'm tempted."

* * *

Later they are sitting at the table, drinking coffee and eating Matt's admitting delicious omelettes. The sun shines through the big windows and floods the apartment with a warm light.

"So what's the plan for today?" Lena asks.

"I can offer the Hell's Kitchen special tour. All the hidden sights."

* * *

When they step outside Matt's building, Lena takes his arm. For outsiders it must look as she is guiding the blind man, but it is actually the other way round: Matt is guiding her through the streets of Hell's Kitchen. They first go to the night club. But now, on a Sunday morning, the building seems abandoned. The only persons Matt can spot are the cleaners. Lena picks up her uniform and the weapon she hid the night before.

"There's something bigger going on," Matt says. "Marshall, the Japanese, the weapons, Elena's building. It's like a puzzle where you're not able to see the whole picture until you have all the pieces."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"Now? Now I'm walking a beautiful woman through the city."

"And when it's getting dark?"

Matt does not answer but Lena can take a guess: Beat on someone until he gets all pieces of the puzzle. Lena wonders whether she should be worried that she has no second thoughts about working with a sometimes indisputable very violent vigilante.

"Perhaps we should have a look at the construction site. On a Sunday morning nobody will be there," Lena suggests, "Is it far?"

Matt shakes his head. "No, just around the corner."

* * *

The whole block, where just a couple of weeks ago Elena Cardena's building has stood, is fenced by a tall hoarding, which obstructs the view at the construction site.

"What are your super senses telling you?" Lena asks, trying in vain to find a gap in the fence to sneak through.

Matt focuses on the drift of the air, which runs over the site. "It's just a hole. A deep one."

"I want to have a look too. Help me."

Matt lifts her up and helps her climbing on his shoulders, trying not to lose his balance. Finally Lena succeeds in peeking over the fence. Matt is right, it is just a very big, very deep building pit. Two big excavators show that they are not yet finished with the digging.

"They must build a skyscraper when they make such groundwork," Lena assumes.

Matt doubts. "Planning regulations don't allow buildings that are higher than ten floors in this area." He decides to visit the city building authority on Monday, but today there is nothing more he can do. Nothing more than enjoying Lena's company. "Come on," he says, "I show you where you get the best ice cream of the whole city."

* * *

They are passing by St. Patrick's Cathedral just when people leave the service. Father Lantom is standing on the pavement, saying goodbye to the churchgoers.

He spots Matt and Lena and approaches them. "Matthew, I missed you at morning service today," the priest says.

"Umh, yes, I…" The priest may be the only person who can make Matt stutter.

"It is my fault, Father," Lena fills in for him. "I persuaded Matt to show me around."

"Well, I see," Lantom smiles, "I think, I can let you get away with that for once. But I expect you next Sunday, Matthew."

"I'll make sure of it," Lena promises.

"How do you want to make that?" Matt asks when they are walking on.

"Perhaps I stay until next Sunday," Lena replies, smiling.

"I would like that." Matt stops and kisses her.

* * *

They sit down on a bench in a small park and share ice cream for lunch. Lena feels relaxed and just enjoys Matt's company, who seems to be more light-hearted as she has ever seen him before. He kisses some ice cream from her lips and Lena becomes aware that she is about to fall in love.

The ringing of Lena's phone brings them back to reality. The display shows her boss as caller. "Sorry, I have to take that." She gets up and makes a couple of steps away. Matt deliberately does not focus on her, because he does not want to eavesdrop. But when she comes back, he notices the change in her attitude.

"I have to go," she explains, "My boss has apparently found something based on the information I sent to my office yesterday. He doesn't want to tell me on the phone, but it must be important. He's on the way to New York and wants to meet me in our offices here."

"Good," Matt says, trying to not show his disappointment that their getaway is already over. Lena's superior may in fact have information to resolve the puzzle.

Lena leans over him and kisses him. "I'll call you as soon as I can."

* * *

Major Daniel Helms has been the reason that Lena has become a C.I.D. agent. He convinced her not to leave the Marines after her rescue and to work for him instead. She has never regretted it. Their relationship is strictly professional, but she trusts him and he has never disappointed her. She knows him very well by now; therefore she notices at once his tension when he arrives in the New York office.

"Sergeant Meyers forwarded me the results on the investigations that she carried out for you. Where did you get that information?"

"From an anonymous informant."

"Did you get that black eye from that anonymous informant too?" he asks. Lena has almost forgotten the swollen eye that the Japanese guy gave her last night.

"No, Sir. That was an accident." Lena is glad when Helms does not pursue the subject.

"Listen, Captain, you may have come across something big here. Thomas Marshall is in the board of Listed Logistic and Listed Logistic does transport services as a civil contractor for the military."

"What kind of transport?"

"They transport decommissioned arms from military depots to the destruction facilities."

Lena silently swears. That explains a lot of things. "But there are security protocols in place. They prevent that arms can just vanished on the transport without anyone noticing."

"There are. And we have to find out, how they got around them. Tell me all you've got."

Lena tells him what she found out about the weapons, Marshall, Listed Logistic and the Japanese from the police and her visit at the Japanese club. She skips over some details such as the role that Matt and his alias Daredevil have in the investigation.

"We need search warrants for all premises of Listed Logistic. And for that night club. And special forces teams on stand-by. And Captain, you have to liaison with the local police again. I don't want another of our arms in these streets." Helm gives his orders without hesitation. Lena likes the determination and quick thinking of her boss and goes to work, relieved that he does not inquire further about her informant. But the relieve turns out to be prematurely when Helms stops briefly by her side and mumbles, "And when everything is set up, we are going to have a chat about this anonymous informant, Captain. And about the accident, which resulted in that black eye."

"Aye, Sir." Lena just hopes that she'll come up with some good explanations to fill the gaps in her story until then.

* * *

It is already night when Lena finally is able to sneak out and contact Matt. They meet in his apartment; Matt is dressed in his Daredevil costume, ready to go out on patrol. The mask is lying on the table. They share a short kiss before Lena updates him on the happenings of the last hours. "Tomorrow, we'll do simultaneous raids in Listed Logistic facilities in three states. We have an arrest warrant for Marshall, which is executing tomorrow as well."

"What's about the Japanese and the construction site?"

"We haven't found anything about Japanese involvement apart from the club, which will be searched as well. Also nothing about the building project, it might not be related to the weapons at all."

"It is." Matt is sure about that, he just has not yet discovered the connection. He does need more time to get all pieces of the puzzle together. He has to find out what the Japanese want with Elena's building. "You have to buy me some time. I have to get information out of Marshall before you lock him up."

Lena shakes her head. "We've got that, Matt. It's thanks to you that we found out about the arms. But now it's time for the official way. We'll going to bring them to court."

"The Japanese will just disappear as they did when Fisk was arrested as soon as the Marines bust Listed Logistic." Matt says hoarsely.

"Beating on people until someone talks is not an acceptable alternative."

They are standing in the room, facing each other and suddenly the closeness they felt just a couple of hours ago seems like lightyears away.

"I have to go." Lena finally says.

Matt holds her off by touching her arm. "I...," he searches for the right words. "Take care," he finally says.

"You too."


	11. Choose

**"** **Not everyone deserves a happy ending." Wilson Fisk**

* * *

Lena arrives back at the C.I.D. office and Helms informs her that they have already set up a permanent surveillance on Marshall so that he cannot disappear before the operation is ready to go. Lena hopes that Matt does not plan something reckless like having a go at Marshall himself. Lena considers warning him about the surveillance but then dismisses the thought. With his super senses he would doubtless spot the tail. And she has already warned him to stay away. However, to be honest, she does not think that her warning really put him off.

As a consequence, she is not really surprised when they get a distress call from the unit which is monitoring Marshall. Apparently the vigilante surprised them, knocked them out and then took his time to question Marshall. They found Marshall unconscious and bloody in his apartment.

* * *

Helms is furious and is barking orders. The whole staff is on alert. The carefully laid out mission is endangered. Lena is keeping her head down while working on damage control. A couple of minutes ago, Matt sent her a text message, consisting of only one word: "Sorry."

* * *

"MacKenzie, outside!" Helms orders.

Lena follows her boss to the hallway.

"Spit it out, Captain."

"Sir?"

"This motherfucking vigilante is your informant, isn't he?"

Lena is not surprised that Helms figured it out. She mentioned Daredevil in her reports on her undercover mission to catch Frank. Sure, she did not mention all: She did not mention the night Matt fell through her skylight or when he revealed his identity on the roof to save her life.

"Yes, he is." It is pointless to deny it. Helms is smart and even without super senses, he is quite good at spotting lies. "He contacted me about the weapons. Without him, we would never have found out about the theft."

Helms takes a deep breath and tries to control his anger. "Listen, MacKenzie, I know that at times the end justified the means. I have no problem collaborating with a criminal to catch an ever bigger criminal. However, this guy is jeopardising the mission. Get rid of him."

"How should I do that?"

"I don't care. Persuade him, trick him, shoot him, pick one. In less than twelve hours we are going to blow up a bunch of criminals who are steeling weapons from the Marines and I won't anything or anyone to screw that. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir, understood."

* * *

Lena leans at the wall when Helms goes back to the office, trying to calm down. The moment has come she has been afraid of: She has to choose a side. She closes her eyes for a moment and the picture of Matt appears, lying in bed next to her and smiling at her. She opens her eyes, shaking off the image.

Two soldiers are passing her, carrying a box with grenades. She has taken her decision, in fact, there has never been a choice. She knows what she is: A soldier, following orders. "Sergeant, hold a minute."

* * *

Lena knows that Matt would hear every hesitation, every variance in her voice. She goes to the next crossroad, hoping that the traffic noise would mask her heartbeat and any other tell-tale clue her body and her voice may give away. Despite all these dispositions she doubts that she could lie without him noticing it, so she intends not to lie but rather to be unspecific and evasive.

Matt answers the phone immediately. There is noise in his background too, voices of a man and a woman, joking around.

"We need to meet. At once," Lena says.

"Lena, I'm sorry about Marshall. But I had to try." Matt is feeling too guilty himself to catch the tension in her voice.

"I know. That why we have to talk." That is not even a lie. "I can't tell you on the phone." No lie as well. "Do you remember the warehouse the Russian blew up? There is another one just behind it. I'm waiting for you there in an hour." She switches the phone off before he can start a discussion and takes a deep breath. The reflection of her face in a shop window catches her eyes and for a moment she stares at herself before she averts her eyes.

* * *

Matt knows that something is wrong but he doubts that Lena suddenly has decided to turn him over. He figures that she is mad at him that he paid Marshall a visit before the Marines could lock him away for good. But he has to know what the Japanese are planning. However, the visit turned out to be unfruitful. Sure, Marshall confessed to steal weapons from the Marines and sell them cheap to the local gangs but he did not know anything about the plans of the Japanese for Elena's building.

Matt feels Lena's presence when he approaches the abadoned warehouse. It is shortly after noon but they are the only people in the area. Matt is glad that she has called him and gives him the opportunity to explain himself. Matt feels that she is nervous and tense. She is geared up for combat; Matt assumes that she is already ready for the raids of the premises of Listed Logistic.

Lena has almost hoped that he would not show up. He is wearing a suit and his red glasses; he looks like when she first met him in the hallway outside of his apartment. He is holding his cane, the cane Lena knows he does not really need.

"Lena, are you okay?" Matt asks worried when he hears her heartbeat increasing.

"I'm sorry." Lena pulls the ring and throws the stun grenade at him. Matt leaps aside. The blinding flash of light does not affect him but the loud blast makes his ears pounding and the only thing he hears is a shrill buzzing. He tries to keep his balance when Lena sets off the second grenade. The tear gas spread across the room. The gas irritates his smell and makes his eyes tear. He thinks that he feels a draft and lashes hectically out, starting to panic while his senses become uncontrollable. He hits something that he thinks to be Lena's face. At that moment an electronic shock wave runs through his body. He loses conscious even before he hits the floor.

Lena gasps, the gas made the tears run over her cheeks. She ignores it. She puts the Taser back in her pocket. Then she grasps Matt and drags him to the old cold storage room. It is turned off and it would be the ideal as temporary prison. She lies him down and puts off her jacket to push it under his head. Then she pats him down until she finds both of his phones. For a moment she looks down at him and hesitates. But she knows that there is no going back. She has made her choice and she would have to bear the consequences. She takes a last look at Matt and then closes the door of the storage room behind her and locks it with a padlock that she has brought with her. She places the key and the phones on an empty shelf next to the door. She almost steps on his red glasses which have fallen to the ground. She picks them up and places them next to the phones.

* * *

"Did you get rid of him?" Helms asks when Lena arrives on site.

"Yes, I did."

"So you could persuade him?"

"I shot him."

"In the leg?"

Lena shakes her head. "In the heart."

* * *

 **Author's note: I have more in mind to continue that story. However, I will first watch the second season of Daredevil to look how my ideas fit with the story. A big thank you to everyone who likes and reviews the story. Feedback is much appreciated.**


End file.
